My name is Richard McBride and I have ALS. I was diagnosed in November 2012 at 57 years of age. This blog will cover my journey. Just remember, I am living with ALS, not dying from it.

Sunday, 30 October 2016

It Will All Happen

It was another one of those disastrous starts to my day today, this one involving things I do not wish to discuss, but requiring a full change of bed linens, including laundering the soiled linens using bleach. All of this happened at around 9:00 AM, meaning I had to get up and shower myself clean far earlier than I usually do. After cleaning up all the target constituents of this construction, I crawled back onto my stripped bed to get dressed.

But I didn't.

The process of the early morning activities had left me exhausted. I had gathered clean clothes; they lay beside me, ready for enrobement. Yet as I sat I slumped over. Now I was laying down. Since I was laying down, it made eminent sense for me to allow the perpetual spectre of sleep to descend upon me once again. I slept once again from about 11:00 to 1:14 precisely, when Dan and Anisa announced their arrival to help with some wine making tasks.

I had completely forgotten about them in my exhaustion. When Anisa rang the door, I asked "Who is this?" She said "Anisa and Dan", to which I immediately responded "Oh shit, it's Sunday!" I understand Dan got quite a laugh at this. I, however, was completely discombobulated, shaking with the exertion and adrenaline of this startling reminder of my day. I lay there, naked as God made me, wondering how on earth I would be dressed by the time they made it upstairs.

Given this lost cause, I simply stayed under the sheet and asked Dan to close the door when he came in. He was still smiling at my disarray. While they did the preparation work for the wine, I got dressed, at my usual speed. By the time I was ready to be involved, Dan and Anisa had things well underway. Maybe I should have just stayed in bed. It would have been easier.

The wine making today was a part of a lengthy process with an hour wait between each of the three parts. I took this time to do some laundry and the two of them even pushed me over the street to Safeway so I could get a few groceries. You see, I'm having guests for dinner tonight too.

All of this might seem a lot for someone in my position to be doing. What you might also see is that Dan and Anisa are here for wine making. For dinner, Anne and David will be coming to help. In addition Anisa has already offered to peel potatoes. So while I may have a lot to do, and while my day may have gotten off to a shitty start, I'm in good hands. I can relax. It will all happen.